[PRCo] Visiting a Belgian PCC

[Fred Schneider]

Jim Holland wrote:
> Good Morning!
>
> >> Jim wrote::
>
> >> "The Belgian(?) three section articulated with
> >> One Large Picture Window in each section is
> >> Absolutely Astounding  --  would dearly
> >> love to see it in person and to ride it."
>

Don't want to sound sarcastic, Jim, but the way you do that is go to a
travel agency (or on-line) and buy an airline ticket.  Wishing and "dearly
loving" doesn't work any better than buying lottery tickets.  If you cannot
find a convenient flight from SFO to Brussels, try going to Shipool Airport
in Amsterdam (trains in the basement will get you where you want to go) or
Charles de Gaule Airport, Paris and then bus or taxi to Gare du Nord in
Paris where you can catch an ultra fast train to Brussels ... be there in
less than two hours.

You buy the ticket.  Some airlines have agreements with hotels to get a
discounted price on a really nice room.   Because Europe is cold and dark in
the winter, that is when the best airline prices are.  I've seen round trips
from Philadelphia in the $250 range (including taxes) in January versus $750
to $1000 in mid summer.  John Swindler has noticed that the airlines are
already down into the normal winter rates this October.  But if the purpose
is to ride trams, eat mussels and Belgian pancakes, drink wine, visit
museums and art galleries, and go to the theater and you don't care when the
sun goes down, winter is fabulous.  Europe isn't overrun with those damn
tourists in the winter ... much better than trying to look at the Mona Lisa
in the Louvre in summer over 100 heads from 20 feet away.  Hotel vacancy
rates are much higher in winter so hotel prices are lower.  (Europe is a
summer destination for Americans just like Miami and Orlando are targets for
the Europeans in winter.)

Next you might want to look at <http://www.b-rail.be>, the website of the
Belgian State Railways.  You want to ride PCC cars?  That website will tell
you that you can get from Brussels to Antwerp for €5.40 (about $6.00), Gent
for €6.60 (about $7.20) and Ostend for €12.60 (about $13.80).  Timetables?
They are on-line too but why bother  ... at least once an hour on the
mainlines.  Rail passes?  Valuable only if you want to travel constantly ...
like every day. Check Rail Europe's website for passes ... most countries
have them and I think there is one for all three low-countries.

Money?  Take a mac card or two and draw money from your bank at home in
Euros over there.  [Checking accounts only ... if you need to access a
savings account, then get a separate MAC card for that account ... for one
bank I have two cards, one for checking and the other for a money market
account.  And one on a third bank if one screws up.  One bank is PLUS
network, the other CIRRUS, so if there is also a network problem I'm ok on
the other.]   Credit cards are getting more use (or abuse) every year ...
almost all hotels and midrange or higher restaurants take them.  You carry
cash for sidewalk food kiosks and small stores.  Travelers checks?  I
haven't used them in five years or more ... too costly.

Language?  Belgium is officially bi-lingual and allegedly STIB is not
allowed to hire a motorman who can't speak both French and Flemish.
Reality?  Africans don't always speak both languages!  But once in a while
you will even find someone who speaks English.  There is a 24 hour ticket
(24 huere carte) at least in Brussels ... don't speak French?  Try saying
carte and using the international sign language symbol by drawing a circle
around your watch.  Hotels?  No big deal.  In the worst case scenario, draw
a picture of a bed with one stick figure ...  draw new moons over it to
specify the number of days.  But you probably won't need that ... most hotel
clerks know the basic "hotel English"  room, one night, with bath.  Food?
If you really like to experiment, buy a copy of the Marling Menu Master for
the French language (red, white, blue cover).  But I'm giving you the
absolute worst case scenario.  Remember, the smaller the country and the
fewer people there are speaking that language, the greater the chance they
will speak English.  As Frits van Dam, who lives in a suburb of the Hague,
said to me ... "You can go 3,000 miles on English.  I can only go 100 miles
on Dutch."   The result? Frits speaks Dutch, English, German, and French and
he can stumble around in five other tongues.  The low countries are a great
place for initial immersion in another culture because you can get by quite
comfortably in English ... after the first day or so and you learn the
ropes.

Knowing their language is not necessary.  Reality is you will learn it if
you have so much fun you want to keep going back but realize you would have
a whole lot more enjoyment if you could better communicate.  I know this
conflicts with what I said the other day ... I truly believe in knowing
other languages but I also have to be realistic.

Customs changed the amount you can bring home without duty ... its now $800
per person.  Still not enough to bring a used PCC home.

Guidebooks?  There are tons of them out there.  There is a market.  Michelin
(Green Guides)  probably has the greatest site detail in the least weight,
but they are loosing that advantage as they try to print color pictures.
Baedecker has more glitz and often arranges contents by areas ... both an
advantage and a disadvantage. DK has some nice drawings.  And I collect too
many of them.